


Blind Raising the Blind

by wei



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-14
Updated: 2010-03-14
Packaged: 2017-10-08 00:14:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/70724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wei/pseuds/wei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes people minding their own business is the problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blind Raising the Blind

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the recycling meme at naruto_meme. Prompt: A jutsu gone wrong turns Sasuke into a baby/toddler and Naruto has to take care of him.

When Naruto had promised to bring Sasuke back, even if he was kicking and screaming the whole way back, he hadn't meant it literally. Naruto was grateful that Sakura had drugged him after a day of traveling, because otherwise he would never have fulfilled his promise.

When the gatekeepers didn't comment about the baby in his arms, he attributed it to the Someone Else's Problem field that paradoxically came with guard assignments. When the secretary bought his story about finding an orphaned infant and naming him after a childhood friend, Naruto thought that it was what you got when you used civilians. However, when the Hachidaime simply congratulated him on a job well done, Naruto wondered if he could have put him down as Uchiha Sasuke, former traitor, instead of No-family-name Sasuke, conveniently orphaned.

When Naruto pointed this out to Sakura, she told him, "I don't think they really remember him. To the village, Sasuke's just another kid who went missing nin years ago. Outside of our group, I don't think anyone cares. Life moves on too quickly here for people to remember the past if it didn't matter to them." Naruto thought that the village's apathy was probably a good thing in Sasuke's case, even if it was unnerving.

Naruto took Sasuke to the playground and set him down in the sandbox. He hadn't had fond memories of the place, but everyone else had, so it seemed worth a shot. Sasuke just sat there and glared at him, while Naruto idly scanned the mothers there for someone to fob the kid off on. If he squinted, he supposed that at this age he understood how Sasuke could be cute and wondered where the legions of fangirls had gone.

Sakura was busy, busy, busy, and between her heading the hospital, mentoring several students, missions, and training, Naruto was glad to see her once a week for dinner. He couldn't remember when she had turned into such a workaholic, but supposed he should be grateful since he didn't think anyone else could have figured out that last jutsu Sasuke had been triggering in time to counter it.

He didn't bother asking Hinata. She was shepherding her clan through its transition from Hiashi's headship to hers, as well as preparing for the wedding being pushed up to take place before Hiashi died. Hinata would still probably say yes, but Neji would probably kill him. Naruto had always pictured him as the bridezilla type.

Ino had screeched in his ear until he ran away in self-defense. "The jounin exams are in three months, between Father and Ibiki, I'm going insane, and Oh My God, could you stop being such a sexist pig and take care of him yourself?"

Naruto supposed that Ino had a point, and really, he'd brought himself up, and didn't think he turned out that bad. He was more normal than any of his friends at least. He brought Sasuke back to his apartment and put him on a chair with a bowl of cereal in front of him and waited for something to happen. Sasuke stared at him uncooperatively.

When his doorbell rang, Naruto opened the door to receive Kurenai. Apparently Ino had convinced her that Naruto was a disaster waiting to happen. Naruto started to explain that he had things under control, but stopped at her expression when she saw Sasuke. Kurenai immediately promised to give him some of her kid's old things, especially his clothes (Naruto was still convinced that orange looked good on him), and left him with a long list of instructions and an even longer book that she made him promise to read.

A few weeks passed, and Naruto wasn't sure if he was doing a good job or not. Sasuke wasn't dead yet, and no angry villagers came by waving pitchforks, but Sasuke also didn't do much besides ignore him or tell him "no." The baby books didn't explain what to do with an infant that hated you, and Naruto was beginning to worry that he was messing Sasuke up even worse than before. Sakura told him to stop being so arrogant when he brought it up, that it was playing god to try to rebuild Sasuke into the person he wanted him to be, and that Sasuke was hitting all the developmental milestones, so Naruto should stop fretting so much.

Naruto brought Sasuke to Hinata's wedding, and Sasuke had been mostly well behaved. He started crying after an hour of being passed around at the reception. Naruto felt guilty when Hinata whisked them inside, but she had claimed she wanted the quiet as well, and he was grateful when she settled him down with some soothing words and a glowing ball of chakra to reach for. When Naruto gaped at her, she said "Sasuke's nowhere near as fussy as Hanabi was. I learned out of self-defense after she was born. I'm sorry I haven't been around lately, but if you ever need any help, you can always ask. There's no reason you have to do this alone."

After settling them down, Hinata returned to her celebration. Naruto wondered what had happened to his stubbornness and persistence. When it was important (or even when it wasn't), he used to bother and push and would never be satisfied with a "no," however busy or reluctant the other person was. He resolved to stop being such a coward, and was going to bother his friends until Sasuke had an extended family more closely knit than the one he had lost. (Naruto was tired of changing diapers anyway, and decided that it was time to share the joy.)


End file.
